The Indie Gala January Bundle Gets Deadly… And You’ll Get A Premonition When You Buy It…

Indie_Gala_JanuaryHa! ANY chance to write more about one of my favorite games is a good thing, so here you go. Over at the Indie Gala site, their January bundle just got even more interesting, going from a must buy pack to “If you DON’T buy this bundle, you’re nuts!” deal. $5.19 got you seven games up until today when Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut was added to the deal and three more Steam games are coming soon. Nice.

The Steam version of DPTDC adds a ton of bonus content, Steam-specific achievements and (Xbox 360) controller support (sure you CAN play with a mouse and keyboard, but this is ONLY recommended if you already do so and are GREAT at it). As for the game proper, it’s a surprising throwback that won’t win any awards for visuals, but has a story that’s quite interesting on a few emotional layers. In addition, the game is a homage to all sorts of cool stuff and packs in movie trivia like a boss (just drive around and listen to the banter for some fun knowledge dropping). Sure, it won’t look amazing at all on that 50″ or three screen monitor setup and the game isn’t going to task your overclocked gaming rig at all. But good, quirky games like this don’t need fancy system defying visuals to be awesome, I say.

That, and the rest of the games in the bundle are all pretty unique in their own right. You’ll see soon enough. Now go spend a few spare bucks (part of it will be going to charity, so it’s okay!) and have a great(er) weekend!

Concursion Trailer: The Act Of Running Together Is Working Quite Well For Puuba Games

Oh, Puuba Games… You intrigue me so. Your first game, Concursion looks pretty darn cool with all that genre switching on the fly, colorful mix of visual styles and and promise of many hours of play and replay value. That said, I tend to be cautiously optimistic about stuff like this because no game is “perfect” and in fact, it’s often the case that a game’s flaws can actually make the overall experience better for some players who can exploit them to the fullest. Granted, the only flaws I see is that dance the main character does at the end of that trailer above (it’s so… 1991!) and some generic-looking sprites. But I know this isn’t the final product at all and I’m not some internet troll with an already dull as hell axe to grind.

Anyway, I’ve got my eyeball on you kids. Get this one polished up and DONE and don’t screw it up. I want people to fall over themselves to get this one when it’s finally done and I also want to see it pop up on consoles at some point down the road because I’m a multi-platform kinda guy…

Yumi’s Odd Odyssey Trailer: Girls Gone Fishin’ Will Hook You In…

It seems in Yumi’s Odd Odyssey
hook, line and sinker set you free
As you strange maps
Avoiding doom (yes, mind the gaps!)

There’s also strange fish and more to fight
(or get away from, far out of sight)
Practice up and learn the moves
(don’t toss that handheld if you lose!)

It may seem tough, but it takes skill
You’ll get it soon by force of will
It’s coming soon via the eShop
keep an eye peeled for it to drop!

Natsume is wisely bringing a fun entry in the Japanese cult classic Yumihara Kawase series to North America under the moniker Yumi’s Odd Odyssey to the Nintendo 3DS soon (it seems this month) and as you can see from that video above, it’s pretty cute… and pretty challenging. Hooking and hauling your character of choice up and around assorted levels as the clock ticks away requires patience and timing, but there’s a load of levels here and too much fun to be had once you get into the mechanics. I haven’t played a game in this series in a few years, so I know I’ll be rusty as hell. But that won’t stop me one bit (although I suck at real life fishing as well!). Unless I get caught up in writing more crappy poetry like the example above and forget all about playing the game…

Review: The Wolf Among Us (Episode One – Faith)

A Wolf Among UsPlatform: PC/Mac

Developer: Telltale Games

Publisher: Telltale Games

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: A

Since my comics reading has dropped of considerably over the past decade plus, I’d not even heard of Vertigo’s Fables series (so shoot me, but not until I finish this review) until a few people in my circles started buzzing about this game and now that I’ve finally reached and competed the first chapter in my stupidly long backlog (it’s stretching into 2015 at this point, no thanks to irresistable Steam, Desura, gog.com and assorted cheap indie bundle sales), I want to go read everything I’ve missed out on. Well, that or get this time travel stuff sorted out so I can play at my leisure and post reviews before games even come out.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah . Once again, Telltale Games swings for the fences and knocks it out of the park with an adventure game fans will be more than pleased with and those new to the experience will groove on for its great, funny and mature plot, excellent visuals and gameplay that combines text-based and quick time sequences almost seamlessly. Even if you don’t like comics for any reason, The Wolf Among Us and its blend of film noir styling in a fantasy New York City populated by humans and fairytale characters is a hard pull to ignore…
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Bundle Stars Wants You To Win BIG (As In $500 Worth of Steam Games BIG)…

store-giveaway 

Wow. Simple entry procedure? CHECK, super prize for ten lucky winners? CHECK. All you need is a PC with enough hard drive space and the appropriate OS and 3D card and you’re good to go. Even if you don’t win a darn thing, you’ll now have a new site to ogle when you’re looking for great game deals where some of the proceeds go to charity. This bundle stuff seems to be the way things are going for many to snap up games of all types at great prices, so get used to it, folks. And if you DO win because you found out about this contest here, remember to put me in your will or something. Or even better, enjoy all those games and say goodbye to being bored for quite some time! And if you’re not a gamer, just pass this post along to someone who is and watch them do something resembling a back flip. Um, if they don’t stick that landing, it’s not my fault… but at least they tried, right?

Okay, CUPHEAD Is On My Game of the Year List (And It’s Not Even Done Yet)…

cuphead-idleI was in an odd mood today until I saw these two videos and now, I’m grinning like a squirrel that’s come across a crashed semi full of mixed nuts. CUPHEAD is a (currently) PC-only side-scrolling platformer from Studio MDHR with, well YES,a main character with a darn teacup for a head. Yeah, that was enough to get me grinning, but those gameplay teasers actually got me to laugh out loud because this is one of those oddball mash-ups that some developers have tried before with mixed results, but haven’t quite nailed.

CH_surpriseIf everything comes together and this delivers what its promising, I’m betting platformer fans make a beeline for this game on anything it eventually pops up on. That said, I don’t expect any actual cartoon or ton of licensed goodies to start dropping from the heavens at all (as I’d rather see any profits go into making more and better games in the future), but I think this dev team is off the a fine start. Keep and eye on this one, I say…

Dungeon of the Endless Trailer: The Final Frontier Is Only About FOREVER Long…

DOET_revealimageEndless Space was (and still is) a pretty amazing 4X strategy game that still draws in players thanks to a ton of depth and replay value plus a very healthy modding community. So, as one of a few follow up titles, developer Amplitude Studios is making… a dungeon crawler set in the same universe? Yes, this is Dungeon of the Endless, currently in development and coming soon to PC via Steam.

Well, that actually works very well for me, as I love that genre more than poking about amount the stars and hoping all my ships aren’t blown into space dust because I got lazy and forgot to do something twenty hours before that’s coming back to bite me in the butt. As you can see above in that teaser trailer, the game will feature randomly generated maps, loads of space beasties to dispatch or be dispatched by and is pretty much guaranteed to suck many, many hours of free time away from stuff you SHOULD be getting done except you were too busy being up too late at night not doing things like sleeping and dreaming of more productive endeavors…

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The Collectables: Crytek’s F2P Mobile Surprise WIll Blow You Away…

_TheCollectables_KeyArt_iPad

To many fans of their graphically intensive game experiences on PC and/or consoles, the words “Crytek” and “mobile gaming” are probably not even seen as anything close to a reality, but surprise, surprise. DeNA and Mobage are about to knock many socks off with the developers first project, a phenomenal-looking free to play tactical arcade shooter called The Collectables. Yes, the name more than likely has your eyebrow now hovering way above your head, I’m betting, and you’re not alone. My own eyebrow did a back flip when I heard a few weeks back that Crytek was entering the mobile scene, but when I finally saw the game in action last week demoed by a broadly smiling Barry Dorf, I was not only convinced, but I’d go as far to say that this might be the game some “core” gamers who shun mobile and tablet games run out to buy a device to play it on…
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Telltale Games Swings Two More (Soon-To-Be) Hits Towards The Fences…

I have the feeling that Telltale Games’ genuine PR guru, Job Stauffer, has some sort of powerful hex action going on at the offices there, as ever since he’s been on the job, a lot of really nice games have started popping up from a few developers and into the eager hands of gamers worldwide. Okay, Telltale already had some great titles before he started working for them, but when you have The Walking Dead (One game, an expansion and a second title on the way soon), A Wolf Among Us, and now Game of Thrones and Tales From the Borderlands as properties to represent, you’re either REALLY damned lucky or you’ve got a voodoo spell in play that may cost you your immortal soul over time, but assures you’re remembered forever as “That AWESOME PR guy” by anyone who speaks your name. Of course, NOW that I’ve spilled the beans, I suppose someone somewhere is making up a little doll that sorta looks like me that’s about to get some vintage hatpins shoved into it with relish. Ouch. Ouch, ouch. Okay, I’m just practicing now… I’ll need to same my screaming voice for later on when the actual pain hits…

In plain English: Man, I can’t wait to play these.

Psst! Um… Hey, Job? You can stop now with the old hatpin counting and doll making. No one really READS my site anyway, heh!

Review: Valhalla Knights 3

VK3_coverPlatform: PlayStation Vita

Developer: K2

Publisher: Xseed Games/Marvelous AQL

# of Players: 1 – 7

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: B- (75%)

2013-10-26-005227For some people, anything resembling sexual behavior in a video game seems to set them off ranting about things they don’t want to do (play the game in public or show it off to friends and family) or didn’t see at all thanks to overreacting and imposing arbitrary rules of the real world where it never needs to be. All I’ll say is this: if you can watch this music video without curling up into a ball in a corner and whining about it being too racy or sexist or prurient, you’re probably mature enough to play (and even enjoy) Valhalla Knights 3.

K2’s new Vita exclusive may not be the best looking game on Sony’s handheld and what’s here often feels a wee bit unfinished, needing actual interactivity in the environments in the form of destructible objects and structures that could be actually entered in some outdoor maps. While there are some amusing and dramatic moments to be found, the main plot could have also used a bit more spice, as it offers up some interesting ideas that don’t mature past a certain point…
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